The O鈥橤rady family of Langley City has their big Christmas display up again this year, but with a slightly spooky twist.
鈥淭his year we knew we鈥檇 go even bigger than we鈥檝e gone in previous years. So, to get ahead we decided to have a Nightmare Before Christmas theme for our Halloween display,鈥� explained Randy O鈥橤rady.
He said this allowed them to put up most of their Christmas decorations, such as Santa鈥檚 sleigh and Christmas trees.
鈥淭echnically we started decorating for Christmas around Oct. 10,鈥� O鈥橤rady joked. 鈥淭his Halloween trickery allowed us to be ready for December about two weeks early.鈥�
The Santa Sleigh is new this year, he said, built by O鈥橤rady and some of his employees.
鈥淲e went ahead and cut out all the pieces, our production guys put it together, we put it in the spray booth to give it a whole bunch of coats of industrial paints, and it will be our display for years to come.鈥�
The sleigh is on their front lawn under the light-string canopy tree, and the public are welcome to have their photos taken in it.
There are also 47 trees this year all with lights, a gingerbread house, inflatables including a hockey playing penguin, and other delights among the branches.
Keeping with family tradition, Santa鈥檚 mailbox is out and accepting letters until Dec. 22.
鈥淲e鈥檙e well over 100 letters already,鈥� O鈥橤rady said.
It started a few years ago when O鈥橤rady saw some kids putting letters in an old ornamental mailbox in his front yard during the holidays.
When they found letters addressed to Santa, O鈥橤rady鈥檚 then young kids encouraged him to send replies.
鈥淲e answered a few letters that year and a few parents posted it on the [social media] community page the following year, and it just went viral and all of a sudden we鈥檙e you know getting dozens of letters a day dropped in the box, and it was fun,鈥� he said.
The family answered the letters, if the kids provided a return address, but they did more. They delivered personalized replies and small gifts.
When asked what the letters say, O鈥橤rady was hesitant to share due to the risk of scammers impacting the Christmas joy of Santa鈥檚 letters.
But he did share one story where a father asked for a bottle of whisky and the new Corvette.
鈥淪anta thanked him in the reply letter and supplied him with a diecast model of the new Corvette,鈥� O鈥橤rady laughed. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be cute when people get cute with us.鈥�
Nicknamed O鈥橤rady鈥檚 Tree Farm, the display is at 20886 45A Ave. It will be up until Jan. 2, and can be visited during day or evenings.
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